National action needed to implement food safety strategy

The implementation of a new global food safety strategy will be a challenge, according to a member of the World Health Organization's Technical Advisory Group on Food Safety. Yongning Wu, from the China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, said countries are at different stages with their national food safety systems and a tailored approach would be needed. Foodborne disease surveillance in many nations is managed by the health sector and there can be limited links with food safety authorities and testing laboratories. The update is to ensure food safety systems are modernized and multi-sectoral collaboration is strengthened. Countries were encouraged to either develop national implementation roadmaps or use existing food safety policies and programs, and to allocate resources to the problem. The Chinese government's proposed roadmap for domestic food safety included a zero tolerance of systemic food safety risks by 2020 and improving the level of assurance and establishing a strict, efficient, and socially governed food safety system by 2027, said Wu in China CDC Weekly, as part of an issue to mark World Food Safety Day on June 7. The strategy aims to achieve the modernization of food safety governance and oversight of the food chain by 2035 and universal modernization of food safety governance throughout China, and to be one of the leading counties for food safety standards and governance by 2050.